


Letting go of what might have been (and letting something else in)

by writethisway



Series: Love Me Forever, Today? [4]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Absolutely no one wanted this, Blind Date, F/M, Gen, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, This was that, You know those fics that just stick with you until you write it?, and yet I wrote it like the Clown I am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:42:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22268872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writethisway/pseuds/writethisway
Summary: Suddenly, he saw Rose looking around the place before locking eyes with him, her eyes widening.He bit his lip. Red dress and a red rose. It was probably her then.The Blind date that absolutely no one asked for
Relationships: Rose Roberts & Aloysius Samberly, Rose Roberts/Aloysius Samberly, if you squint
Series: Love Me Forever, Today? [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1871389
Kudos: 6





	Letting go of what might have been (and letting something else in)

**Author's Note:**

> Do I hate myself? Mmmm yeah  
> Did this come out in a haze of writers block on my nanowrimo fic? mmm yeah  
> Am I still on writers block with that fic? Ohhh yeah babey!!!
> 
> Title is from "Love will come and find me again" from Bandstand 
> 
> ps. keep yourselves on a lookout for another Bandstand fic because... oh yeah

By nothing more than a bad dream, today started with him crying out for Evie. 

He presses his head into his hands and sighs softly, taking a few deep breaths before standing up, getting ready. 

It was just a normal day, no anniversaries that he had to fight against, nothing. Just a blind date that he wasn’t looking forward too. Because of Evie. 

Evie was his wife. She was a WASP, turned Air Transport Auxiliary pilot. Beautiful, funny, and smart as a whip, she was the love of his life. She was killed in France during the war. He sighs, before straightening his tie. He had a date tonight. A blind date. Charlie, a friend from high school, set it up for him with a friend of a friend. She was a widow and worked in the government, like him, and Charlie thought they would get along, somewhat. 

He was nervous. At least he knew that she was a widow. It was comforting to him at least. 

The day passed by quickly, with nothing really happening. A meeting with Chief Sousa, and a meeting with Agent Saunders to brief him on the lab for the week. Soon, the day was done, and Samberly could go home and get ready. 

He sighs, getting himself ready, straightening his tie. He was nervous, but Charlie said that she was really nice, super sweet. Pretty funny and liked dancing. She would be wearing a red dress and have a red rose in her hand, and to meet her at the Rhythm Room at 7. 

He looks in the mirror and nods, before cuffing his sleeves, and getting in his car, driving to a flower shop and getting his bouquet of red roses, which would designate him as the person the girl would meet. At least it wasn’t tulips. 

The girl at the counter pitied him a little. Somehow she was always there when he came in for tulips for Evie, and she knew how in love with her he was. She takes his hand and nods, before saying, “Good luck, you deserve a win.”  
  
He nods and sighs, before going back, driving to the club.  
  
He was there at 6:55, and stood outside waiting for her. He started worrying a little, but he was early. 

Suddenly, he saw Rose looking around the place before locking eyes with him, her eyes widening. 

He bit his lip. Red dress and a red rose. It was probably her then. 

He goes over, ignoring the grief and shock building up in his chest. “Did Charlie Santangelo set you up?”  
  
She turns to look him over. “Violet actually. I’m,” she hesitates for a second. 

“If it’s I’m sorry for your loss, it’s fine. Happened in 1944.”  
  
“Funny, so was mine.” 

He laughs a little, “October?”  
  
“No, June. D-Day.” She says, looking away. 

He nods. “Let’s go in?”  
  
She nods. “Yeah, not letting Violet get out of this though.”  
  
He nods. “That’s how they met. My friend Charlie is a doctor at Los Angeles County. Probably works with Violet.”  
  
She nods. “That’s probably how.”  
  
He nods and goes into the club with her, and she murmurs a thank you when he holds the door open for her. 

They get seated fairly quickly, only too shorten the time he had to not talk about her. 

He sits, before sighing softly, letting his mind wander for a few minutes. His widower status wasn’t known to anyone in the SSR. Not even Chief Sousa. Samberly knew that Chief wouldn’t tell a soul, but still, the prospect of it coming out, and everyone pitying him was too much to bear. At least for now. 

“Do you want me to grab you a drink?” he says, pressing past his thoughts, he was one for self-intrusive thinking, but not for tonight, at least.  
  
“Sure, just a Ginger beer,” she nods, looking down, being shy, and for a moment, he saw a tear dripping down, but he doesn’t say anything. They’re both pushing their limits today, no need to comment on anything.

He grabs the bartender and orders two drinks, Coke for him and a Ginger Beer for her, seeing as they were both not in the mood for alcohol, at least not tonight. He takes them back to the table, where Rose has calmed down a little.  
  
“Here you go,” he smiles, and hands her her drink, while she nodded and said thank you quietly. 

He takes a sip, wandering in his thoughts, when Rose clears her throat.  
  
“What did you get?”  
  
“I got a coke,” he nods, sipping it.  
  
“What no rum?” she grins, starting to hum “Rum and Coca-Cola”  
  
He chuckles, “No, no, I don’t drink, I filled and went over my drinking quota for life after…” 

She nods, her mood growing somber for a bit. “Did you grow up here?”  
  
He nods, “Born and raised, you?”  
  
“Cincinnati, born and bred,” she nods, taking a sip. 

He nods, “So then…”  
  
“Telephone operator, turned WAC, turned government agent, You?”  
  
“Went to California Institute for Technology for everything, became an electrical engineer with a love for chemistry, then secret project,” he nods sighing, “Took a teaching job after it was all over, but didn’t really know what to do until the branch opened.” 

Rose nods, taking it in before starting to say something, then hesitates a little. “Do I remind you of her? Is that why you were flirty with me during the Isodyne case?”  
  
He nods a little, taking a deep breath. “Listen, I am so sorry about that, I just didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t been around women my own age for a long time before that. I don’t have sisters, and my two best friends are confirmed bachelors, so having you and Agent Carter around, I kinda freaked out. And to answer your question, you do in some ways, the way you say certain words and the way you calm the other agents down. I would ask about me but I don’t think…” 

“No, not really. There’s something in your eyes that remind me of… him, but that’s it. And thank you for the apology, it does mean a lot,” she takes a sip of her drink, as the band starts playing a tune that took him a second to recognize, and he laughs a little. 

“What is it?” 

“This song, ‘Begin the Beguine?’ It’s my favorite,” he grins, getting off his seat and offering his hand to her. “Wanna dance?” 

She nods carefully, and he smiles and takes her hand, leading her out to the dance floor and starting to sway with her, letting her set the pace for tonight. He was quite fine with just being friends, hell his flirting with her had been a mistake. 

She smiles, as they sway back and forth. Nothing too fancy, no dips or tricks, but just swaying back and forth. He sighs out slightly, “I missed this. M-my wife was a big fan of dancing and she loved music, so going out dancing whenever she was home on leave was important.” 

She steps away, looking astonished that he had opened up a little, but recovered, “Wasn’t for us, Patrick had two left feet.” 

He nods. “Understandable. That was me when I met Evie.” 

He holds her close as the song finishes and he sighs, as the band started playing “Moonlight Serenade”, and took him back almost 3 years ago. When he lost her, this tune was playing and that was the only thing he could focus on. 

“Aloysius?” Rose taps him gently on the shoulder. 

“I-I need some air,” he says, letting go of her and scooting past her to go upstairs to the entrance and sighing once he got there leaning his head against the wall. Memories of Evie flooded his mind, and he slumps down onto the sidewalk and cries, before hearing heels click, and Rose sitting down, holding his hand and rubbing it, murmuring soft words into his ears. He quiets down, before going to stand, pulling a bit away from her. He wipes his tears away before going back with her to the bar, and sipping on his coke. 

“Do you want to get it over with? It being Evie and Patrick?”  
  
She bites her lip before nodding, saying, “Sure, but you go first.”  
  
He nods and bits his lip before starting slowly, “Evie and I met in English class, senior year of high school. Got hitched in ‘35 after college, which is when she decided to become a pilot. She already had a degree from secretary school, she just wanted to do something else. She found planes to be interesting, so she took up flying. She loved it and well. She became a pilot. Everything was fine, but then the war broke out. She signed up to be in the Air Transport Auxiliary, and well, she didn’t make it back.”

She nods. “You could say mine was something like that. Patrick and I met in Cincinnati, me and my mom were volunteering at the orphanage he was raised in. He was three years older than me, but we were both from the wrong side of the tracks. Got hitched in ‘34. I was a telephone operator, he was a pilot. The war broke out, he was drafted, I became a WAC, and well, he was shot down over France during D-Day. I got recruited for the government soon after.”  
  
He nods. “Patrick seemed nice.”  
  
She nods, biting her lip. “He was. Evie seemed nice as well.” 

He nods at her, sighing softly. “Sorry, this is a lot for me.”  
  
“It’s fine Aloysius, this is a lot for me too.”  
  
He breathes out a sigh. “Yeah.”  
  
She smiles and squeezes his hand before saying, “Do you have any pictures of Evie?” 

He nods, handing her his wallet. Inside was a picture of her in a plane, and then one on their honeymoon. Rose chuckled and pointed at that one, showing it to him. Evie was dressed up in a short white dress, and Al carrying her in front of the Hollywood Rosevelt. “We didn’t do much for our honeymoon. I had just gotten out of University, we needed something somewhat cheap, but special, so we stayed at a fancy hotel in Los Angeles for a week.” Al shrugs.  
  
She nods. “That’s basically what we did as well, but in Cincinnati,” she says, handing the wallet back, before taking a sip of her drink.  
  
“What about Patrick? Do you have a picture of him?”  
  
She nods, taking out a little photo booklet, before showing it to him. “Me on my wedding day.” 

He nods and smiles at her. “He seems really nice.”  
  
“He was. You alright?” Rose smiles. 

He sighs. “You know how I take a week off work every year?”  
  
She thinks, before nodding. 

“Yeah, that’s the week that Evie and I got married,” he sighs out, “And the week I found out she…” 

“Al, I’m so sorry, I-” she starts, before breathing in and settling herself. “June 10th.”  
  
“June 10th?”  
  
“That’s my day off work, because that’s the day that my supervisor pulled me over and told me he was KIA.” 

“I- shit. Guess Charlie and Violet knew us better than we thought,” he sighs. 

“I guess they do,” she smiles. 

He nods, smiling at her. Needless to say, it was one of his better days after he got that mess off his chest. Maybe he should start talking about Evie. 

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. He told her stories of Los Angeles and she told him stories about growing up in the Midwest. They danced for a while, almost until midnight. 

When she started getting sleepy, he smiles and says “ready to go home? I’ll drive you back?” 

“Yeah, that sounds good. Violet and Jarvis dropped me off.” 

He nods, paying for the drinks and letting her walk to his car and opens the door for her, before going to get in the driver’s seat, and driving her back, with her giving a few directions on where to go. 

Soon they came to a little house, right by the SSR. An older house, with a few palm trees in front of it. He smiles and she yawns and starts to get out, him getting out as well. 

“I’ll walk you up,” he smiles and she nods, before walking up with her and making some small talk. 

Rose smiles and sighs once they get up to her porch and she nods. “Thank you Al, I had fun tonight.” 

He nods. “I did too. It’s been a bit too long since I’ve done that…” 

She nods biting her lip. “Yeah. Listen I…” 

“Just friends? I mean it when I said I was sorry for the Isodyne case, I just was…” 

“Out of it, I understand,” she nods before smiling, “and I’ll do you one better, best friends?” 

“Yeah, best friends. I’ll see you tomorrow Rose?” 

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She grins and goes inside and he goes to the car and sighs, smiling. 

A new friend and a new favorite dance spot. He looks up at the sky before getting in his car. 

“Thanks Evie for looking out for me, but I’m alright. I’m good now.” He nods, before getting in and starting to drive.


End file.
